This year’s Berlin Wall Memorial event proved to be a calmer affair than last year. Held on Nov. 8 on Walker Lawn, occurrences of hate speech and protest stayed at a minimum compared to last year, which saw a controversial iteration of the event.
The Berlin Wall Memorial is a yearly event held by MTU’s Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter that honors the wall that split Berlin during the Cold War. Students are encouraged to paint whatever they want on the wall to promote free speech.
Leading up to the event, students speculated on how this year’s memorial would go. Many foresaw a repeat of last year’s chaos where there were protests over the wall being used to display hate speech, a student forcefully destroying the wall, and a professor being reprimanded for comments about YAF. There were additional concerns with political anxiety unusually high following the 2024 elections. YAF leadership was proactive in maintaining order, setting a risk management plan and remaining cautious about certain kinds of speech.
“Threats to a certain group, threats really at all, incitement: those things are not on the wall and were not on the wall last year. If they do pop up on the wall this year, we’re taking an active approach to removing them,” said MTU YAF president Andrew Feys.
Some remained nervous about what might happen during the memorial. The night before the event, Wren Schmalz, co-president of LGBTQ+ advocacy group Keweenaw Pride (KP), warned members over Discord to “not interact” with the memorial, citing concerns over hate speech that was painted onto last year’s wall.
Ultimately, while some derogatory comments appeared on the wall, it was mostly used to depict jokes and political slogans. Most passers-by either left their message peacefully or politely declined to engage. Many who remained uncomfortable with it chose to spend time at the CDI, which held extended hours partially in response to the event.
“There are a lot of people who are upset that this is allowed. I don’t know if Tech has been doing the best it can to support its queer students and its students of color, especially when events like this happen,” said Schmalz.
Feys defended the presence of hate speech on the memorial, stating “I feel that censoring anybody or their opinions is oppression no matter what they may be.” YAF continues to defend the Berlin Wall Memorial as a way of celebrating free speech.
